Taize: Holy Week and Easter 2012

Vacation! This past week, I enjoyed visiting some dear friends in London and now am being treated like a queen by my Aunt in Burgandy, France. It's been gorgeous weather, so I am definitely soaking up the sun! Tomorrow I head to Taize for the week, where I get to spend Holy Week. I am very much looking forward to this week, and unsure what to expect! I do know the schedule, which is as follows:

Daily Schedule:

8.15 Morning prayer

12.20 Mid day prayer
20.30 Evening prayer

Thursday evening 5 April

20.30 Celebration of the Eucharist (with the feet washing)

Friday evening 6 April

20.30 Evening prayer followed by prayer around the Cross

Saturday evening 7 April

20.30 Evening prayer and the life commitment of one of the brothers of the community

Sunday 8 April : Easter

10.00 Celebration of the Easter Eucharist
20.30 Evening prayer

Towards a new theology of liberation

I just completed a 4 day training in Paris, on holistic healing. Bob Ekblad (tn director and founder) and Gilles Boucomont a local pastor in Paris organized and taught the course. I got to be the one TN delegate to go and am really glad!

It was really helpful, developing a more thorough understanding of body, soul, and spirit and the way we are affected and require holistic healing. It's hard to put it all into words, but my eyes were really opened to more of the spiritual world--and the incredibly power and presence of God. I personally was impacted through a slight paradigm shift, as well as see potential for ways it will affect our ministry. Much more to be said.

It's also been great to be with the Ekblads, meet others from the Uk, France, Sweden, and exploring Paris a bit too!

welcome the 'stranger' and 'alien' includes ALL people

Over the past 3 weeks, Salvio & I have presented on ‘The Faces of Immigration: the Lives of Today’s Farmworkers' to five different groups: our TN Volunteer Advocacy training in Bellingham, Pregnancy Choices, Whidbey Island Presbyterian Church, Lopez Island High School Group, and First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. As the immigration debate rages on in this country, it is encouraging to be welcomed with open ears and hearts to various communities eager to hear about the lives of those who are often hidden in society. Unfortunately the current political rhetoric all too closely echoes the voices throughout history that have worried about immigrants ‘draining our economy’. The solution repeatedly proposed is ‘to build a wall’ and keep ‘those immigrants out’!

How are we called as Christians to respond? How does the Bible view ‘strangers’ and ‘aliens’? “Of the 613 laws in the Torah, the one that appears most often is the directive to welcome strangers” [Andy Newman, NY Times, 3.8.07]. More than once, Scriptures tell us to not mistreat aliens because we know what its like. "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt” Exodus 22:21; 23:9. We are also reminded that we are strangers of this earth and citizens of heaven [1 Pet 2-11, Ps 119-19].

In the New Testament, Jesus invites us to see and serve him in those around us. “... I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matt. 25:35). We are also commanded by Jesus to love our neighbors, this includes people who look different from us and/or come from a different country. In fact, the author of Hebrews writes, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (13:2).

What if the US religious rhetoric was transformed into viewing strangers as angels, not aliens to be ostracized from society? What if in each person we saw the potential for mutual liberation, for cross-cultural transformation, and more simply as a precious human created in the image of God? As C.S.Lewis says, “There are no ordinary people…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses”(Weight of Glory, p.9). It is a privilege to be able to welcome those who come through our Family Support Center doors on a weekly basis, to offer a cup of tea, hear people’s stories, and assist them as they navigate life in the US. By the grace of God, may our eyes be opened to see all as our Divine maker created and designed each to be.